OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of umbilical sticking therapy (UST) with Qitou Xiaugu Plaster (QXP) on hemodynamics of portal system in patients with liver cirrhosis.

METHODSOne hundred and twenty patients of liver cirrhosis with portal hypertension were assigned to two groups. On the basis of conventional therapy, UST was applied in the 66 patients in treated group, which was exchanged once every 3 days with an interval of 1-day rest. The 54 patients in the control group were orally administered with propanolol. The therapeutic course for both groups was 1 month. Before and after treatment, the hemodynamic changes in portal or splenic veins were observed by color Doppler ultrasonograph, and the changes of liver function, blood coagulation and patients' subjective symptoms were observed as well.

RESULTSAfter treatment, portal vein diameter and splenic vein diameter significantly decreased (P < 0.05, portal venous flow velocity and splenic venous flow velocity apparently increased (P < 0.05), and portal venous flow apparently decreased in both groups (P < 0.05), while no significant change was found in the splenic venous flow (P > 0.05). The liver function and blood coagulation indexes in both groups were improved. The improvement of clinical symptoms in the treated group was superior to that in the control group.

CONCLUSIONUST with QXP could decrease the portal vein pressure in a short time, with the therapeutic effect comparable to propanolol, and with no adverse reaction.

Adult ; Aged ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Hemodynamics ; drug effects ; Humans ; Hypertension, Portal ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Liver Cirrhosis ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Portal Pressure ; drug effects ; Portal Vein ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Splenic Vein ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Umbilicus ; blood supply ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: To observe the expression pattern of caspase-3 and HCLS1-associated protein X-1 (HAX-1) at different time after cerebral contusion in rat, and explore the new method for estimating the injury interval. METHODS: The cerebral contusion model was established using adult SD male rats. Then the rats were randomly allocated into 8 groups: 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, 1 d, 3 d, and 7 d after cerebral contusion, sham-operation and normal control. Expression of caspase-3 and HAX-1 protein after cerebral contusion in rat was detected by Western blotting. Laser scanning confocal microscope was used to observe the number of HAX-1 positive cells and TUNEL-stained cells after cerebral contusion. RESULTS: The expression of caspase-3 increased parallelly with the time after cerebral contusion and reached the peak value on 3 d. The expression of caspase-3 decreased gradually and still maintained a high level expression on 7 d (P < 0.05). The expression of HAX-1 positive cell went up after injury, and reached the peak value at 6 h (P < 0.05), then turned down gradually after 12 h and went out of detection after 3 d. The number of TUNEL-stained cells increased obviously at 2 h and reached the peak value on 3 d. The number of TUNEL-stained apoptotic cells decreased gradually and still maintained a high level expression on 7 d (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION The expression of caspase-3 and HAX-1 after cerebral contusion has time sequential regularity, which may provide new evidence for forensic diagnosis of cerebral contusion interval.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Brain Injuries/pathology* ; Carrier Proteins/metabolism* ; Caspase 3/metabolism* ; Cerebellum/pathology* ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Objective:To screen for the pathogenesis-related genes of osteosarcoma and to assess their roles for the de- velopment of osteosareoma.Methods:Total RNA was extracted from 3 ATCC osteosarcoma cell lines and an osteoblastic cell line and was used to synthesize biotinylated cRNAs;the latter were hybridized to Affymetrix~(?)GeneChip~(?)U133A ar- rays and a gene with more than 2 folds of change was selected.Ten of the differentially expressed genes were chosen and the primers were designed and the synthesized.Then SYBR~(?)Green real-time PCR(RT-PCR)method was used to detect the expression of the 10 genes in 9 fresh osteosarcoma specimens.ABI Prism 7 000 system was used to analyze the differ- ent expression between osteosarcoma cell line and osteoblastic cell line.Results:We identified 58 up-regulated and 142 down-regulated genes in the 3 osteosareoma cell lines.Many of the genes were firstly reported to be related to the patho- genesis of osteosarcoma.These differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in energy and material metabolism,on- cogene,signal transduction gene,transcription- related genes,cell cycle-related genes,cell apoptosis-related gene,im- mune response gene,tumor suppressor genes,etc.The array results of 10 randomly selected genes were further verified by the RT-PCR in 9 fresh osteosarcoma specimens.Conclusion:Many genes are involved in the pathogenesis of osteosarcoma. Gene microarray can help to discover the genes related to the pathogenesis of osteosarcoma,which may lay a foundation for studying the molecular mechanism of osteosarcom.

Animals ; Humans ; Oxazines ; metabolism ; Phenylpropionates ; metabolism ; Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear ; agonists ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Thiazolidinediones ; metabolism ; Transcription Factors ; agonists ; antagonists & inhibitors

Objective:To investigate the effects of estradiol on ~(60)Co?-ray induced apoptosis of bone marrow hematopoietic cells of mice,and to discuss the related anti-irradiation mechanism.Methods:KM mice were randomly divided into 3 groups(15 mice/each group):control group(without radiation),pure radiation group and estradiol+radiation group(ER group).The pure radiation group was irradiated by 4.0 Gy?-ray at a dose rate of 1.15Gy/min;the ER group was administered with 0.1 mg estradiol(IM)at 10 days before 4.0 Gy?-ray radiation;and the control group received no special treatment.The apoptotic DNA segments of bone marrow hematopoietic cells were analyzed by DNA agarose gel electrophoresis;flow cytometry was used to examine the apoptosis rate of cells and expression of Fas and Bcl-2 at 4 h,8 h,and 12 h after irradiation.Results:Eight hours after radiation,the apoptotic DNA segments were obviously increased and apoptotic DNA ladder appeared,which was not seen in the other 2 groups.The apoptosis rate of bone marrow hematopoietic cells in ER group was significantly lower than that in the pure radiation group at 4,8,and 12 h after irradiation(P

Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Fixatives ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; methods ; Tissue Fixation ; methods

Objective To investigate the clinical feature,treatment,and prognosis of hospitalized patients with jaw osteoradionecrosis. Methods A total of 93 cases with jaw osteoradionecrosis treated between 2000 and 2010 was reviewed.Of the 93 cases,79 cases were with mandible lesions,13 cases with maxillary lesions,and 1 case with both mandible and maxillary lesions.Sixty-six cases received one course of radiotherapy,with the radiation doses of 34 -90 Gy (mean 64.6 Gy).Twenty-two cases experienced tooth extraction or other operative procedures before exhibition of the clinical symptoms for osteoradionecrosis.The interval time between radiotherapy and the onset of osteoradioneerosis varied from 2 weeks to 32 years (mean 54 months).Results Of 93 cases,56 patients underwent radical resection of the pathologic bone and reconstruction with free tissue flaps,in whom 7 cases received the second surgery due to microvascular thrombosis in flap vessels,and flaps were survival by new vascular anastomosis in 3 cases,the failed flaps were removed and replaced successfully by non vascularized bone grafts in 2 cases,and the failed flaps removed and the defects were repaired with adjacent skin in other 2 cases.In the 56 cases,only one case was with disease recurrence and 53 cases with significant improvement in chewing and swallowing functions.Only 2 of 93 cases underwent resection of the pathologic bone and reconstruction with titanium plates,and thereafter they encountered titanium exposure.Scaling of osteoradionecrosis lesions was applied to 20 of 93 patients and 9 cases of them were with disease recurrence.Fifteen cases had resection of the effected mandible without reconstruction.Disease relapse was encountered in 2 of them,others had poor chewing and swallowing.Conclusions The mandible is more susceptible to osteoradionecrosis than maxilla.Radical resection with reconstruction by free tissue flap is recommended for the treatment of jaw osteoradionecrosis,and scaling and reconstruction only with titanium plate should be avoided because of high risks of titanium exposure and disease relapse.

Objective To study the protective effect of Irisin in doxorubicin(Dox)induced-Cardiomyopathy and its possible mechanism.Methods AC 16 cells were used to construct Dox injury model and divided into control group(AC 16 cells were cultured with complete medium),Irisin group(AC16 cells were treated with 10 ng·L-1 Irisin for 24 h),Dox group(AC 16 cells were treated with 4 μmol·L-1 Dox for 24 h),Dox+Irisin group(AC 16 cells were pretreated with 10 ng·L-1 Irisin for 2 h,and then treated with 4 pmol·L-1 Dox for 24 h).Cell counting kit-8(CCK-8),terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling(TUNEL)and lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)were used to detect the proliferation,apoptosis and mortality of AC 16 cells.Western blot was used to detect the expression levels of nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB)signaling pathway and apoptotic factors B-cell lymphoma-2(Bcl-2),Bcl-2-associated X protein(Bax)and caspase-9 protein.Mito-Tracker Red CMXRos probe was used to detect mitochondrial membrane potential.Results In the contrl group,Irisin group,Dox group,Dox+Irisin group,the rate of apoptosis were(0.97±0.09)％,0,(42.80±6.70)％,(11.74±1.79)％;the expression of Bax protein were 0.85±0.01,0.36±0.02,1.15±0.07,0.37±0.11;the expression of caspase-9 protein were 0.52±0.02,0.59±0.03,1.11±0.02,0.67±0.08;the expression of Bcl-2 protein were 1.01±0.04,1.05±0.25,0.43±0.02 and 0.99±0.30;the probability of mitochondrial damage were(0.02±0.01)％,(0.5±0.15)％,(38.6±2.39)％,(1.58±0.54)％.The difference of the above indexes between the contrl group and the Dox group were statistically significant(all P＜0.05);the difference between Dox group and Dox+Irisin group were statisically significant(all P＜0.05).Conclusion Irisin could reduce the expression level of Bax,caspase-9,p-NF-κB,and p-mTOR caused by Dox,increase the expression level of Bcl-2,ameliorate the myocardial damage caused by Dox,and reduce cardiotoxicity.

Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effects of adult neural stem cells derived from the brain, adipose tissue and bone marrow on spinal cord injuries in adult rats. Methods The brain subventricular zone (SVZ), adipose tissue and bone marrow from the same rat were obtained to induce the neural stem cells (NSCs). In 72 SD rats with spinal contusive injury, the NSCs from the 3 origins were grafted into the injured spinal cord one week after the injury, with 24 rats as the saline control group and another 24 as the sham-operated group. The locomotor recovery of the rats was evaluated according to the BBB scores, and the cell survival, distribution, migration and differentiation in the injured spinal cord were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Results Compared with the rats in sham-operated and saline groups, the rats receiving transplantation of NSCs of different origins all showed significantly increased BBB scores. At 9 weeks after the transplantation, the rats receiving brain SVZ-derived NSCs (SVZ-NSs) exhibited significantly improved locomotor function compared with those grafted with the other two NSCs (P<0.05). The SVZ-NSs showed significantly higher Brdu/nestin+cell percentage than bone marrow-derived NSCs(BM-NSs) and adipose-derived NSCs(AD-NSs) at 4 weeks after grafting, but till 8 week after the grafting, only a few positive cells were found in the injured spinal cord in the 3 groups, without significant difference between them (P>0.05). Conclusion Grafting of the NSCs derived form the brain SVZ, adipose tissue and bone marrow all help improve the locomotor recovery of the rats following spinal cord injury, and the SVZ-NSs has the most obvious effect. But AD-NSs may seem a better option than those of other origins for repairing the injured spinal cord due to their abundant sources and strong proliferation ability.s

Objective To investigate the effect of collagen scaffold loaded with collagen-binding domain neurotrophin-3 (CBD-NT3) on the extension of cellular processes of dorsal root ganglions (DRGs), and explore the significance of this kind of combinatorial strategies in the spinal cord injury repair. Methods The tail tendons of SD neonatal rats were performed the removal of cellular components to prepare the collagen scaffold; HE staining was employed to evaluate whether the cells were completely removed from the collagen scaffold. The collagen scaffold was loaded with CBD-NT3,and then, they were co-cultured with primary DRGs for 1, 3 and 5 d, respectively. NT3 and PBS were also co-cultured with primary DRGs for 1, 3 and 5 d, respectively, as controls. Cells on the scaffold were stained by fluorescein diacetate (FDA) for morphology observation and the lengths and angles of the processes in each group were also quantitatively analyzed. Scanning electron microcopy (SEM) was employed to observe the topography of scaffold and the ultrastructure of DRGs 3 d after the co-culture.Results HE staining indicated that the cellular components in the scaffold were removed completely.The length of processes elongation in CBD-NT3 treatment group was significantly longer than that in the controls 3 d after the co-culture (P＜0.05). The 95% confidence interval of the angle between the line which the process emerged from the cell soma to the growing tip of the process and the long axis of fiber was 18.8-20.7 degrees. The results of SEM showed that cells could rely on the topography of the scaffold to anchor and grow. Conclusion The combinatorial strategies of collagen scaffold with CBD-NT3 can play a double function for oriented guiding and inducing extension of cellular processes effectively,which may provide a better therapeutic approach for spinal cord injury repair.